| View Larger Image | Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship | Hardcoverby Bill White (Author), Robert Gandt (Author), John McCain (Foreword)
| List Price: | $26.95 | | Price: | $10.78 | | You Save: | $16.17 (60%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Broadway | | Page Count: | 368 Pages | | Publication Date: | September 30, 2008 | | Sales Rank: | 120,258th |
|
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
The first official history of the legendary aircraft carrier that fought in World War II and Vietnam and continues to serve as a major air and space museum in New York CityThe USS Intrepid is a warship unlike any other. Since her launching in 1943, the 27,000-ton, Essex-class aircraft carrier has sailed into harm’s way around the globe. During World War II, she fought her way across the Pacific—Kwajalein, Truk, Peleliu, Formosa, the Philippines, Okinawa—surviving kamikaze and torpedo attacks and covering herself with glory. The famous ship endured to become a Cold War attack carrier, recovery ship for America’s first astronauts, and a three-tour combatant in Vietnam. In a riveting narrative based on archival research and interviews with surviving crewmen, authors Bill White and Robert Gandt take us inside the war in the Pacific. We join Intrepid’s airmen at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in October 1944, as they gaze in awe at the apparitions beneath them: five Japanese battleships, including the dreadnoughts Yamato and Musashi, plus a fleet of heavily armored cruisers and destroyers. The sky fills with multihued bursts of anti-aircraft fire. The flak, a Helldiver pilot would write in his action report, “was so thick you could get out and walk on it.” Half a dozen Intrepid aircraft are blown from the sky, but they sink the Musashi. A few months later, off Okinawa, they again meet her sister ship, the mighty Yamato. In a two-hour tableau of hellfire and towering explosions, Intrepid’s warplanes help send the super-battleship and 3,000 Japanese crewmen to the bottom of the sea. We’re next to nineteen-year-old Alonzo Swann in Gun Tub 10 aboard Intrepid as he peers over the breech of a 20-mm anti-aircraft gun. He’s heard of kamikazes, but until today he’s never seen one. Swann and his fellow gunners are among the few African Americans assigned to combat duty in the U.S. Navy of 1944. Blazing away at the diving Japanese Zero, Swann realizes with a dreadful certainty where it will strike: directly into Gun Tub 10.The authors follow Intrepid’s journey to Vietnam. “MiG-21 high!” crackles the voice of Lt. Tony Nargi in his F-8 Crusader. It is 1968, and Intrepid is again at war. Launching from Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf, Nargi and his wingman have intercepted a flight of Russian-built supersonic fighters. Minutes later, after a swirling dogfight over North Vietnam, Nargi—and Intrepid—have added another downed enemy airplane to their credit. Intrepid: The Epic Story of America’s Most Legendary Warship brings a renowned ship to life in a stirring tribute complete with the personal recollections of those who served aboard her, dramatic photographs, time lines, maps, and vivid descriptions of Intrepid’s deadly conflicts. More than a numbers-and-dates narrative, Intrepid is the story of people—those who sailed in her, fought to keep her alive, perished in her defense—and powerfully captures the human element in this saga of American heroism. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 10 reviews)
|
The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship Intrepid by Eric Shuler (Oradell, NJ USA)  4 Stars
March 10, 2009
The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship Intrepid
Publisher Broadway Books
Pp 349
Photos
The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship Intrepid by Bill White and Robert Gandt is a very comprehensive history of a the aircraft carrier Intrepid. I reside within fifteen miles of the Intrepid and have visited her many times. I know of the history of the Intrepid, but the book made me realize how little I actually knew of the legendary aircraft carrier.
I was aware she served in WW II in the Pacific and Senator John McCain was a pilot aboard her during the war in Vietnam. Also, during the dark days of September 11, 2001 she served as a command post.
As a soldier, I am always amazed something so big can float and then be able to launch combat planes. The book begins with her actions in WW II and describes in detail the combat the Intrepid participated in and the kamazike attacks the ship withstood. The Intrepid WW II actions are very impressive by it and that alone would make an interesting book. The Intrepid was one of the few fortunate aircraft carriers to be selected to be refit after World War II.
After the Vietnam War, the Intrepid assisted NASA by recovering astronauts from the Atlantic Ocean. Later the Navy would decommissioned her and but decided to bring her out of mothballs and recommission her for continued service. The authors Bill White and Robert Gandt go into detail about the changes to the Intrepid.
September 11, 2001 the Intrepid served as a command post for the United States Government as much of their office space was destroyed in the World Trade Center. The Intrepid to this day has a mission to support New York City in times of crisis. This is an incredible feat as this ship is over 60 years old and with the new refit by the Intrepid Foundation she will continue to welcome people aboard her decks.
One of the chapters, I found extremely interesting is how the Intrepid came to New York and became a museum. The founders gave much of their own money to preserve the Intrepid. The process of bring a war ship to a city is daunting as well as expensive. The authors make the reader really appreciate the scarf ice and vision to bring the Intrepid to New York.
I enjoyed the book and if you have time read the book and if you in New York make sure you visit the Fighting I on the Hudson River in New York City.
Major Eric Shuler (ret)
NJARNG
| |
From a former ship's crew member. by Burke J. Landry (Madisonville, TX) 4 Stars
February 04, 2009
White has done a fine job in this book. I was a plane captain assigned to a Corsair along with one of his interviewees, Felix Novelli, also a plane captain of a Corsair. White has obviously done much research, and accurately so. His descriptions of battles with the kamikazes are quite realistic and bring back many memories, frightfully so. White cites Novelli's witnessing the attack on the Franklin. I, too, witnessed this. I was in the chow line on the port side when the attack occurred. I saw the plane and witnessed 27 explosions before turning away. I simply could not bear to watch any more. One point in the book that I question, and it is minor. But, I do have to admit that my memory of the April 16 attack is somewhat vague, but it seems that the two kamikazes attacked from on high off the starboard side rather than from low astern as White describes. I do have to admit to being very busy at this time, however, since my battle station was a 40mm quad tub on the port side just aft of the elevator where the suicider struck. I was quite busy handling ammo at that moment and 63 years have taken a toll on my memory. Nevertheless, the book is a fine representation of the "Mighty I" and what she went through while I was on board. I highly recommend this book for WWII buffs and any others interested in the history of aircraft carriers of that period.
| |
A True Story to Remember by yes (USA)  5 Stars
January 25, 2009
I grew up around the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the stories and history of of the US Navys warships were an important part of my youth. One of the often told stories were about the Intrepid and its brave sailors and marines. This book highlights the long and extremely interesting and history full life of one our Navy's ships, a great read and great history for us all. PS come visit it in new York City.
| |
The Intrepid by Big Ben 5 Stars
January 16, 2009
I thought this was a great book It's great to read an author who knows his subject.
| |
A gripping tale of the Grand Old Lady of the high seas by William J. Vitale, MD, USAAF (Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA) 5 Stars
December 28, 2008
This fascinating story of the beloved aircraft carrier, the USS INTREPID, and the valiant men who served her so bravely is a must-read for all who would savor a true-to-life account of heroism in the service of our country. The book was written by Bill White, President of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, in collaboration with Robert Gandt, a former US Navy aircraft carrier pilot, whose inimitable style never ceases to capture the hearts and minds of his readers.
Commissioned in 1943 as Navy CV-11, the Essex Class INTREPID fought long and hard throughout the Pacific Theater of World War II before finally sailing in victory beneath the Golden Gate Bridge in 1947 to her well-deserved resting place in San Francisco. Her battles had been fierce. Many innocent lives had been sacrificed aboard the ship and in the air to the Japanese Imperial Navy and savage kamikaze attacks.
Refurbished in the mid-1950s, the Intrepid was recommissioned and returned to the high seas where she played a major role as a recovery ship for America's space program. In the 1960s, she went on to see three tours of duty in Vietnam earning many much-coveted commendations. After extensive modernization in 1972 she, once again, entered the fray and began two years of Cold War duty in the Mediterranean with multi-mission capabilities -including nuclear strike deterrence- before sailing to Quonset, Rhode Island under her own power only to be ignominiously towed to what was to have been her final resting place in Philadelphia.
Life began anew, however, when in 1982 she was resurrected and transferred by a Special Act of Congress to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City along the placid banks of the Hudson River in Manhattan. There she would also proudly serve as a temporary emergency center headquarters for the FBI following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Most recently, she has undergone extensive renovations and remains a treasured National Historic Landmark for all to visit and bask in her glorious history.
Having read the book with immense interest, the Intrepid and her museum are now at the very top of my own personal "bucket list". The book is a story well-told and much appreciated.
| |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her
by Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (Author)
In the closing months of World War II, Americans found themselves facing a new and terrifying weapon: kamikazes -- the first men to use airplanes as suicide weapons.By the beginning of 1945, American pilots were shooting down Japanese planes more than ten to one. The Japanese had so few metals left that the military had begun using wooden coins and clay pots for hand grenades. For the first time in 800 years, Japan faced imminent invasion. As Germany faltered, the combined strength of every...
| | | At War With The Wind
by David Sears (Author)
A Main Selection of the Military Book Club and a Featured Alternate of the History Book ClubIn the last days of World War II, a new and baffling weapon terrorized the United States Navy in the Pacific. To the sailors who learned to fear them, the body-crashing warriors of Japan were known as suiciders; among the Japanese, they were named for a divine wind that once saved the home islands from invasion: kamikaze. Told from the perspective of the men who endured this horrifying tactic, At War...
| 
| If Not Now, When?: Duty and Sacrifice in America's Time of Need
by Colonel Jack Jacobs (retired) (Author), Douglas Century (Author)
A Medal of Honor recipient looks back at his own service—and ahead to America’s future.
Jack Jacobs was acting as an advisor to the South Vietnamese when he and his men came under devastating attack. Severely wounded, 1st Lt. Jacobs took command and withdrew the unit, returning again and again to the site of the attack to rescue more men, saving the lives of a U.S. advisor and thirteen Allied soldiers. Col. Jacobs received the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of...
| 
| Inferno: The Epic Life and Death Struggle of the USS Franklin in World War II
by Joseph A. Springer (Author)
Known throughout the fleet as "Big Ben," the USS Franklin was christened for the legacy of the four prior U.S. Navy ships named after Benjamin Franklin. The Franklin was a creation of World War II, one of twenty-four Essex-class fast carriers built during the conflict, forming the backbone of the U.S. Navy's war against Japan. By the time the war had moved to Okinawa in the spring of 1945, "Big Ben" had already seen substantial combat, having participated in the island campaigns of...
| 
| My Ship! The U.S.S. Intrepid - A World War 2 Memoir
by Raymond T. Stone (Author)
The author takes you to sea, into action aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid, The Navy's Most frequently hit carrier> His observations, how he felt about people and the events recorded along with pages from his unauthorized World War II diary. The experience becomes part of you as you share the drama of history as seen by one who lived it.
|
|
|
